9 questions with Walking Shadow Theatre Company's John Heimbuch

If you're planning to enter a trivia contest in which the Three Musketeers might be a topic, you'd be wise to hornswoggle John Heimbuch into joining your team.

One of three artistic directors for Walking Shadow Theatre Company, Heimbuch wrote the script for its "The Three Musketeers," which opens Saturday at the Guthrie Theater. Heimbuch, 35, has been fascinated by the derring-do trio for more than half his life.

"When I was 15, I remember going to the Disney movie, the one with Kiefer Sutherland, and enjoying it but being a little confused because it strays pretty far from the book," says Heimbuch, a graduate of Minnesota State University, Mankato. "And then I went to Theatre de la Jeune Lune's production, in around 1997, and I was interested in that one, too, but the end of it left a lot of questions."

John Heimbuch (Courtesy photo)

Since then, he has read the book and seen numerous film versions and what he has learned is this: "There are limitless permutations to it. It's been adapted so many times, and the nature of the storytelling in each one is different. And the sense of heroism we've come to expect is fundamentally different in the novel than in the films and stage versions."

Heimbuch -- who founded Walking Shadow with Amy Rummenie (his wife) and David Pisa in 2004 -- turned to "The Three Musketeers" at a dark time in his life, hoping to connect with something more playful. But what he discovered is that the musketeers are not all about swinging from ropes and battling bad guys on balconies.

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"There is a darker side to the book, hints of the use of their privilege, power and masculinity for their own betterment, damn the consequences," Heimbuch says. "Whether that's in terms of beating their servants without a second thought or seducing chambermaids to get their ladies' secrets or giving their oath and then breaking it when it's convenient, it happens a lot in the book and I was interested in exploring what is the nature of our expectations of heroism."

No matter how many swords are brandished or velvet cloaks are swirled, it's that moral gray area that puts "The Three Musketeers" in Walking Shadow's wheelhouse and that has continued to fascinate Heimbuch since he was a kid, working a kid's dream job.

Q. What was your first job?

A. I worked at Toy World in the Galleria, which was a more or less independent toy store. I was a sales clerk. I worked a couple of days a week, selling and testing out the merchandise.

Q. What would you do if you had a million dollars?

A. I would set aside some for taxes. I would invest heavily in Walking Shadow, possibly getting us a permanent space, more likely investing in the visibility of the company. I would take one allotment and pay off our house and another allotment for a small feature film.

Q. What is your favorite place to be?

A. The process of creation is my favorite metaphoric place to be, so either in a rehearsal room, guiding a production or in a quiet spot where I can focus on creating the fictional worlds I bring to the stage. But I'm actually quite fond of my house. There's a spot on Venice Beach in Los Angeles I'm fond of and I'm similarly fond of Battery Park in New York.

Q. Who would play you in a movie?

A. I hope I would.

Q. What is the scariest thing you've ever done?

A. Going to Los Angeles when my mother was in hospice care and dealing with the final week of her life and closing her estate over the summer of 2012.

"The Three Musketeers"

Q. What are you thinking when you begin writing a play?

A. Oh, God. What have I gotten myself into?

Q. When did you know you wanted to be in theater?

A. I was too young to remember specifically but let's say definitively by the age of 13.

Q. What's your motto?

A. Just keep working.

Q. Whom do you admire most in the world?

A. I'm enamored of people who have followed paths to success in creative endeavors that are maybe unexpected. I have worked with an awful lot of talented people who have inspired me to create better work and to be a kind and considerate person.